High Tea

Every now and then I get a hankering for high tea. I love how fancy everything is, from the elegant set up to the finger sandwiches to the tasteful little desserts. Oh and let’s not forget about the tea. Unfortunately most places charge an exorbitant amount for high tea so I figured why not host my own high tea party instead.

My sandwiches included:

– smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese

– grilled capsicum and hummus

– cheddar cheese and tomato

– egg and mayonnaise

Top Tier: Classic vanilla cupcakes

Middle Tier: Chocolate brownies, Anzac slice, Lemon tarts, Button cookies

Bottom Tier: Classic scones, Mini quiches, Cheese and spinach triangles

Overall:

Preparing for this was fun and easy. Everything was homemade except for the quiches, the triangles, and the lemon tarts (which I put together using store bought tart shells and lemon curd from a jar). My guests were super impressed and we all ate until we could no longer move. (I kept refilling the tiers and eventually gave everyone some food to take home as there was so much leftover). This was definitely a great experience and is something anyone can do.

Coombe – the Melba Estate

675 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream 9739 0173

A little while ago I had the opportunity to attend a private garden tour and morning tea at Coombe – The Melba Estate. This stunning property was once home to Dame Nellie Melba, Australia’s first world-famous opera singer.

The 2.8 hectare garden was designed by William Guilefoyle, who also designed Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

Hedge

Six hundred metres of beautifully manicured cypress hedges can be found here. By getting into a crouching position and slowly shuffling forward, I was able to squeeze into this particular hedge opening and experience being inside of an enormous hedge. It was pretty cool.

Not only does this spectacular garden contain plants (including rare ones), it also contains…

an old English oak tree (estimated to be over 180 years old)…

Victoria’s oldest swimming pool (built in 1913)…

vegetable gardens…

chickens…

a croquet lawn…

and much more. So after our garden tour, it was time for morning tea!

Top Tier: Fresh baked scones, Peach Melba Jam, Clotted cream

Middle Tier: Lemon meringue tartlet, Strawberry tartlet, Dark and white chocolate truffle, Friands

Bottom Tier: Pork and apple sausage rolls, Leek and Persian feta quiche, Coombe Farm pate on Melba toast, Asparagus dill cream cheese pinwheel, Smoked salmon ribbon sandwiches

Overall:

The restaurant is located within the restored motor house and historic clock tower, having a design that cleverly incorporated old and new. I found the huge glass windows that overlook the gardens to be particularly impressive. The morning tea served was good but nothing outstanding. Perhaps the brunch or lunch here is more delectable as seasonal and estate grown produce are used. Nevertheless I loved the history of this estate and the calming picturesque gardens. It’s amazing how after more than a century, this estate is now open to the public. Note that this place is available for weddings and private functions.

*Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest of Two Hands Agency. All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I felt about the service, food and quality at the time of visit.

Hotel Windsor

111 Spring St, Melbourne 9633 6004

Afternoon Tea

Seven Fairies (Glorious Blooming Tea)

Overall:

When I found out that they were going to increase their afternoon tea prices as of November 1st 2013, I thought to myself that now was a good time to go and try this place out. The service was professional, the atmosphere relaxed and the decor classy and elegant. The afternoon tea food however was rather ordinary, with nothing in particular standing out.

The sandwiches included:

smoked salmon, creamy avocado, dill
chicken, apple, mayonnaise
egg, mayonnaise, snow pea sprouts
virginia ham, dijon mustard
cucumber, sour cream

These unfortunately tasted like they had been sitting in the fridge for a while = Not bad

The pastries included:

lemon meringue pie
mille feuille
sacher torte
lamington eclairs
caramel eclair

The lemon meringue pie was yummy, I found the pastry of the mille feuille and eclairs to be quite tough, and the sachet torte was exceptionally rich = Not bad

Scones:

Traditional and sultana scones that are baked daily, served with jam and double cream. These scones were warm, buttery and slightly crumbly = Good

Seven Fairies Tea:

I find blooming teas (or flowering teas) really fun to watch. They are essentially a bundle of dried tea leaves wrapped around one or more flowers into a tight ball. When this is steeped, the leaves and flowers unfurl in a process that mimics a flower blooming, with the tea leaves forming the petals and the flowers inside unfolding as the centrepiece. With the combination of green tea leaves and fragrant young jasmine flowers, this tea tasted clean and refreshing = Good

The Waiting Room

Crown Casino, 8 Whiteman St, Melbourne

Afternoon Tea

Sandwiches

Sweets

Scones

Sorbet

Overall:

One of the best high tea places that I have ever been to! The service was prompt and professional, the atmosphere elegant and relaxed, the decor lavish and the quality of the high tea food was sensational.

The sandwiches included:

tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella on ciabatta
egg and cress salad on olive bread
smoked chicken with mango on whole wheat bread
whisky marinated salmon croissant
cucumber and cream cheese on white bread

Although the whole wheat bread was a bit dry and hard around the edges, and the cucumber and cream cheese sandwich didn’t have quite enough cream cheese spread, the sandwiches overall were very tasty = Good

The sweets included:

lemon curd tart with raspberry meringue
apple and blackberry crumble with Tahitian vanilla cream
strawberry and vanilla tarts with Pimm’s cream
earl grey tea flavoured chocolate mousse and tonka ganache
chocolate eclairs
moist orange chocolate cake
gin and tonic jelly with sweet cucumber
white lady
pistachio sponge with orange marmalade

All of these desserts were rich and marvellous, except for the white lady (which tasted like cream and nothing else) and the gin and tonic jelly shot (I am not a big fan of gin) = Good

Scones:

Traditional raisin and buttermilk scones that come with winterberry jam and clotted cream. The great thing about this place is that you get to decide exactly when you want to have your scones during your afternoon tea session. Baked fresh on request (they take approximately 12 minutes to cook), the results are hot buttery delicious scones that are light and fluffy = Excellent

Sorbet:

Raspberry sorbet with Grand Marnier on a praline base. A terrific palate cleanser to end on. A clean sweet sorbet with a hint of crunchy praline = Good

I am definitely coming back here again for afternoon tea!